Nancy Nelson Sutherland

Nancy Ruth Harris-beloved mother, nana, friend, and lover of all things beautiful, joyful, and exquisite-departed this life on Thursday, September 18, 2025. She was born the 31st of March, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan to Lola Mae Simpson and George Thomas Harris. Nancy tried to live every day of her life that she was able with an abundance of scientific and intellectual curiosity, music, and artistic appreciation.

Nancy spent her early years in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and later in Georgia, where her curiosity about the world first took root. She graduated at the age of 16 from Decatur High School. In 1957 she followed her mother to Dallas, Texas, and later studied at the University of Texas at Austin where she earned her degree in Latin American Studies.

In 1966 she married Dr. Eastin Nelson, professor of Economics at UT Austin. Second she married Professor Thomas Shelton Sutherland IV. They lived in Arlington, Texas, where Tom taught Southwestern Literature at UT Arlington.

Nancy is survived by her children and their partners, grandchildren and great grandchildren: Tricia Hancock Floyd, Carol Harris Nelson Valdez, Deirdre Eloise Nelson, Stephen Ward Nelson and Barbara Kelley, Nancy Elizabeth (Liz) Sutherland, Thomas Shelton Sutherland V and Elizabeth Tipps, and Mary Robertson Sutherland and Edward Nelson; grandchildren and partners: Cheyenne Floyd, Hunter and Haley Floyd, Rylee Floyd, Luis Gabriel Valdez, Luis Daniel Valdez, Cassandra Nelson Valdez, Reuven Sutherland View, Camille Erin View, Sabrina Loupret Bolduc, Naomi Eugenie Lafayette Bolduc, Nora Delphine Snow Sutherland; and great-grandchildren Harper Floyd and Heston Floyd.

To each she offered not only unconditional love, but fostered in them an enduring love and talent for music and art, while unfailingly encouraging them to read, explore, and never stop learning.

During her life Nancy ran a rental business that she started with her first husband, and owned and ran a La Reyna restaurant in Austin. Nancy was an avid gardener, she played the piano and the accordion, and she spoke French and Spanish. She loved sailing and water skiing and was passionate about seafood. She discovered the fine art of making ceviche after arriving in Texas as a young woman and it remained a favorite dish of hers for the next 60 years.

She loved to quote Robert Frost:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

.And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth…

Though her road has come to its end, Nancy's spirit endures in every note of music her family plays, every story shared, every act of kindness extended in her name. Her life was a testament to perseverance through many hardships, to beauty found in culture and song, and to the fierce love of a mother who endured much but endlessly supported those she loved with grace and tenacity.